Trouble From the Start

It’s the end of senior year, and while Avery is looking forward to college, she can’t help but be a little bit wistful about her lack of romantic experiences. But she knows what’s important in life and is unwilling to compromise herself or her ideals for a boy. But when she encounters Fletcher, the school’s bad boy with an awful reputation that precedes him, she can’t ignore the way he makes her feel. Fletcher, meanwhile, knows that while life has dealt him a bad hand, he’s no good for a girl like Avery. But he’s drawn to her nonetheless, and he begins to find himself having dangerous dreams about becoming a better person.

Rachel Hawthorne’s new novel Trouble From the Start is a sweet, yet complex, romance novel for young adults. It’s more than just a fluffy novel about the good girl convincing the bad boy to change; this story also firmly reinforces the idea of women holding onto their own principles, while discussing darker topics like child abuse. The overall love story is very sweet though, and readers will be by turns frustrated and ecstatic for Avery and Fletcher. Don’t be surprised if you find yourself reaching for Hawthorne’s companion novel, The Boyfriend Project, next!